HAYWARD — The San Ramon attorney convicted of killing a Chinese tourist in a hit-and-run crash in 2012 has been arrested again after missing a court appearance.

Spencer Freeman Smith, 36, was arrested Jan. 27 after failing to appear for a court hearing for a probation violation, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and court documents. He tested positive for cocaine on Oct. 29, 2015, after a trip to Dubai, just days after he was sentenced.

In October, Superior Court Judge Michael Gaffey said Smith could serve his 30 days in jail following 11 months of electronic monitoring after Smith said his wife was having pregnancy complications.

Smith had been living in San Ramon and working as a San Francisco labor attorney on March 12, 2012, when, after a night of drinking with a paralegal from his firm, he struck 57-year-old Bo Hu on Dougherty Road in Dublin, according to the DA’s Office. Hu was in the country for his fiancee’s relative’s graduation and was killed while he was walking a bicycle. Smith did not stop at the scene and was arrested by Dublin police after investigators matched broken car parts to his brand-new Mercedes-Benz sedan.

Smith first pleaded no contest in November 2014, but before sentencing Judge Kevin Murphy recused himself since he personally knew some of the people who wrote letters on Smith’s behalf.

Smith pleaded no contest once again under Gaffey. Although the judge had the discretion to sentence him to up to three years in prison, Gaffey reduced the crime to a misdemeanor and Smith was sentenced to one year in county jail and five years’ probation. Gaffey gave Smith a weeklong reprieve in September 2015 to surrender himself after he announced his pregnant wife was having complications.

But just days after his sentencing, Smith tested positive for cocaine. Smith’s former attorney, Dione Choyce, argued at a hearing in December that the test needed to be redone because saliva samples produce unreliable results and “it was another substance that gave a false positive,” referring to medication Smith takes.

“We know he didn’t have cocaine in his system,” Choyce said in December.

But in late January, Smith failed to appear for a hearing and a no-bail arrest warrant was issued, said deputy district attorney Matt Gathias.

On Monday, Smith admitted to the probation violation, Gathias said. Now his misdemeanor charge could return to being a felony. If the charges remain misdemeanors, he faces a maximum of two years in county jail, as opposed to four years for a felony.

Gaffey will decide Smith’s sentence Thursday. Though never stated on the court’s record, it’s been known around the Hayward court that Smith’s mother worked for the Alameda County Superior Court for decades.

Smith’s new attorney, Rebecca Feigelson, declined to comment on the case.